Recharging an electric vehicle is as easy as filling up with petrol!
Charging points are appearing across the North East, through the
Charge Your Car scheme. Charge point locations, as well as how to access the charging points,
can all be found on their website. More charge points are being added all the time, so make sure you check back!
As the recharging infrastructure develops across the North East and the rest of the UK, electric car drivers will be able to use many different charging points across the country. There will be on-street charging bays in urban centres, charge points within multi storey car parks, at retails parks and super markets across the North East, as well as within company car parks. Domestic charging units are being developed to allow at home charging.
The time taken to recharge an electric vehicle depends on both the type of vehicle and the type of recharging point. Rapid charge points will be developed across the existing road network, allowing a vehicle such as a Nissan LEAF to recharge to 80% in under 30 minutes, making long distance journeys possible. At home, cars will recharge overnight in about 8 hours. On street charging points will be upgraded as new technology comes online, but parking and recharging is likely to be limited to a 4 hour stay, which will supply up to 80% of battery capacity. (Please see the FAQ’s for more information).
Once you have an electric car, simply pull up to a charging point.
- You will have a special key fob which, when held next to the charge point, will open the door.
- You will also have a special recharging cable, with one end going into the car, the other into the charging post.
- Once the charging post door is securely closed, the car will start recharging.
All recharging posts, cables and connectors are fully tested and compliant with British and European safety standards. They have been designed to ensure that if there are any problems, or the charging cable, post or car is vandalised or involved in an accident the electricity supply will automatically be switched off. All of the posts have advanced communication systems, and if there are any changes or problems these are reported immediately to the charge point supplier and the electricity supply is turned off.